Yesterday Netflix finally announced that they have renewed Stranger Things for a second season, and with it came a Stranger Things season 2 teaser trailer which revealed the titles of the nine episodes in the upcoming second season. Being that I love to speculate, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at these episode titles and try to predict what it might all mean.

Stranger Things Season 1 Episode Titles: A Look Back

But before we take a look at the episode titles of Season 2, maybe we should look back at the episode titles from the first season and what they meant:

The Vanishing of Will Byers: The title is a reference to the inciting incident of the series, with Will Byers going missing.

The Weirdo on Maple Street: A reference to Nightmare on Elm Street‘s title and also an episode of The Twilight Zone episode in which the real monsters are humankind. The title itself is either about Eleven, the young girl with a shaved head and supernatural powers, or Joyce who is seeing strange things in her home.

Holly, Jolly: A reference to the Christmas lights that Joyce strings around her home in an effort to communicate with Will.

The Body: In this episode, Hopper finds out that Will’s body is a dummy.

The Flea and the Acrobat: The kids’ science teacher tries to explain alternate dimensions and space-time by explaining that an acrobat that can only move back and forth across a tightrope and a flea that can go underneath and upside down.

The Monster: In this episode, the monster takes center stage as Jonathan saves Nancy by pulling her through the portal. Later, they buy supplies for a new plan to kill the monster.

The Bathtub: El is able to amplify her powers underwater and the kids come up with a plan to make a sensory-deprivation tank so El can search for Will and Barb.

The Upside Down: Hopper and Joyce enter the Upside Down to rescue Will.

Stranger Things Season 2 Episode Titles

Moving on to Stranger Things season 2, the teaser trailer offers the following 9 episode titles:

Madmax, The Boy Who Came Back To Life, The Pumpkin Patch, The Palace, The Storm, The Pollywog, The Secret Cabin, The Brain, and The Lost Brother.

While it has been confirmed that those are the episode titles for the second season, we aren’t 100% sure that this is the order. Most fans are pretty much assuming that to be the case, so we will approach it from that direction. What might these titles mean? Here are some guesses:

Madmax

The most obvious reference is probably to George Miller‘s 1979 film Mad Max. Does the plot of that film offer any clues to the premiere episode? The film is set in a self-destructing post-apocalyptic world, perhaps a metaphor for the Upside Down? Mad Max follows a father out for revenge for the killing of his wife and son, possibly a reference to Chief Hopper (David Harbour) who has lost not only his daughter but his surrogate daughter, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

We have been told that the episode opens up someplace outside of Hawkins, Indiana, surely expanding the word we will see in this upcoming season. The Duffer brothers have talked at length about how they have looked at the successful sequels, and 1981’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is more acclaimed than the original. Also, note that the title is not “Mad Max” but one word “Madmax.” There was no character named Max in the first season, the Duffer Brothers have said that four new characters will be introduced in the new season and we’ve learned that a girl named Max will be one of them.